Pierre CAILLET

Chef : 1 restaurant In a lovely Normandy house in the heart of the Pays de Caux, chef Pierre Caillet is the vector of fine French gastronomy.

Presentation

MOF in 2011, Pierre Caillet has been well aware of the value of hard work since his earliest childhood. I grew up in a family of seven children, in the countryside not far from Gisors," he confides. I know what it's like to go and weed the onion rows in the garden, pick the green beans, do the household chores that are essential in a large family instead of going out to play with friends. As a child, I cooked quite a bit with my mother, but it was more of a chore than a pleasure."

Attracted by the woodworking trades - his father, although he never practiced the profession, was a carpenter by training - Pierre Caillet initially planned to work in joinery. "But at the time, PVC was all the rage... I'd heard great things about the Lycée Hôtelier in Le Touquet, where I applied without hesitation. It was also an opportunity to leave the family bosom, to be in a boarding school, to set off on an adventure."

Romuald Fassenet, MOF 2004, a decisive encounter

With his BTS in hand, Pierre Caillet embarked on a career in which he would invest 100% of his time and energy: Château de Coudrée in Sciez, Jean-Paul Jeunet in Arbois, then the opening of Bec Fin in Dole alongside Romuald Fassenet, whom he helped to prepare (successfully) for the MOF competition in 2004. "But with my wife, Cécile, whom I'd met in Le Touquet, we of course planned to set up our own business. We went to Ireland to learn English and discover a different cuisine, and then we had the opportunity to buy the Auberge du Bec in Le Cauchois. The establishment was in need of major renovation, but we didn't hesitate. We couldn't afford to buy a brand-new restaurant anyway. We carried out the work ourselves over several years. The rooms were so dilapidated that we closed them before reopening them just a few years ago."

MOF at just 30

MOF in 2011 - the same year the couple bought the premises - Pierre Caillet is delighted with this delightful stone and red brick inn (later renamed Maison Caillet).e later Maison Caillet), a little lost in the Cauchoise countryside, where he was able to create the vegetable garden of his dreams, 4,000 m² of which he tended almost single-handedly for ten years before enlisting the help of a gardener. "But it never scared me. And it's in this garden that I draw my inspiration." His fine cuisine was awarded the Terroir d'Exception Normandie trophy in 2024.